Diagon Alley

You got to say, Diagon Alley was a sight to see, it was even more magical than the movies and the books, the surprised and awestruck look on my face was genuine as I felt like going to Disney land for the first time, I was really excited,it was teaming with magical folks, soon to be students, Victorian-looking buildings. I was travelling with a group of 11-year-olds and their parents along with Professor Mcgonagall. I was the only one without a guardian so Minerva decided to take care of me during the trip, my mother couldn't get permission to leave from the store that day, so I too agreed to this arrangement without much hassle, the only downside is I wouldn't be able to explore a bit, well that is also for the best because there were shadier places like knockturn alley and more in magical London, I didn't want to end up as a potions or ritual ingredient.

Flashback 1 week ago, Nathanial's birthday.

After my conversation with the deputy headmistress I was left alone to contemplate on how I was going to break the news to my Mother, I planned out several scenarios just in case things go south, the possible outcomes that I imagined ended very badly, namely me ending up in a mental asylum, getting killed by my own mother, or me having to kill her if she decided to go along with the second option, all I could do was hope that mother would be sober enough to see reason.

At about 8ish Mother came home and surprisingly sober, I didn't know if mother recognized that our sofa had been replaced, she didn't say anything if she did. I was nearly brought to tears when she gave me a birthday cake, for all her deficiencies she does care about me.

Well i cannot be solely blamed for the lack of love or faith in my mother, she nearly starved me to death several times during my childhood, her alcoholism affected her lactation and I was forced to consume second rate baby formulas, she was too drunk to console me during my emotionally vulnerable moments and my adult mind was not affected by my ingrained familial emotions so sue me, I don't care if I come across as a dick, everyone has problems and alcoholism is not the solution, she should have done better and I shouldn't be giving advice to my mother as she was the adult in this relation.

(MC's child body overrides his adult mind and throws temper tantrum despite the sound mental strength, well sometimes)

After dinner, I helped out by doing the dishes and when my mother moved towards her booze rack I spoke up

"Today we had a surprise visitor mom, she came to deliver me an invitation to join a private school in Scotland with a scholarship if I were to join"

My mother stared at me for a few moments and came towards me rushing to kneel before me and held me by my shoulders.

"Nathanial Storm, you shouldn't just invite random strangers into the house, did she try to do something funny, there are a lot of creeps that lie through their teeth to do bad things to children"

I had to use all my willpower to stop a giggle if she had said that to Minerva's face, the old cat would have scratched her face with her Scottish fury. Well i have to give it to mother, she was a different person when she was not drunk and for the record, I did have a few encounters with paedophiles, well it didn't end up well for them and I came out unharmed and richer with each encounter, I knocked them out with a well placed low power banishment charm and robbed them blind. I used part of the funds to stock up our provisions when Mother obviously forgot about them.

"Mom I know about stranger danger, plus this one was legit, she didn't try anything funny, she stayed for like 5 minutes and left, she even gave me this letter and promised that she would visit again after a week". I then passed over the letter to her to read and mentally prepared the next set of arguments that I would have to make.

The expression on my mother's face spoke volumes, there was a slight amount of disbelief and equal amounts of realization.

"Is this real?" was all she asked.

I pointed towards the new couch.

"Well i always thought that it was the booze ,when I saw bottles and cookie jars flying throughout the house" she said with a little smile, then her face turned very sad " So your father was he, what a wizard, is that why I don't remember anything" she asked in a small voice, it was not really a question, she put two and two together.

I took a breath and explained what Minerva said about the school and what would happen if I were not able to attend hoping that mother would not go hysterical. To sell it further I even made a small flame in my palm which hovered there.

"What do you want to do sweetie? do you want to join this school?" she asked with a defeated expression.

I couldn't believe that this conversation was going too smoothly, I was expecting lots of screaming and crying, well my daily prayers to J.K must have paid off I guess.

"Yes mother, I would very much like to attend, there is this scholarship too, so it wouldn't be a burden to us financially, I would be away for most of the year and will be home for Christmas and summer hols"

My mother didn't give me permission immediately and said she would think about it, I didn't push my luck and just nodded. To my great surprise, she went completely sober for the next couple of days and on the day before Minerva's visit she came to me with her answer.

"Nathan sweetie, I think..... I think that you should attend this school and you should become a wonderful wizard that helps people. Even if they hadn't offered you a scholarship I would have worked my ass off to pay for the expenses, so its good....its good. While I have never said this outright but I do love you with all my heart, I have never considered you a burden, but mommy is a human and humans err sweetie, I haven't been the best mom but you have to understand that mommy.....mommy was hurt real bad."

What started as a confirmation took a drastic turn towards an emotional monologue as she hugged me and started to cry. My opinion of her rose and this traitorous body responded on its own, I hugged her back and my eyes were tearing.

"I love you too mom" I whispered, then we both started to cry, if anyone were to ask me about it I would totally deny it.

I had already decided to kill my fucking old man, but now I would dish in some well-deserved cruciatus too.

The next day my mother and prof. Mcgonagall talked further about the school and other miscellaneous stuff, things like the blood prejudice irked mother but she didn't say anything.

"Professor Mcgonagall, can I be sure that my child will be safe in this world of yours?" was all she asked.

"We ensure the safety of each and every student ma'am, so you can rest assured. Blood prejudice might be a thing but we provide education impartially so you can be assured that your son can get the best education in the safest place there is," said Minerva

I had a poker face but internally I was laughing when I heard about the impartiality and the safety bit, bitch please we know that was not true.

From Minerva's explanation, I confirmed that muggle-borns parents didn't get much information about their child's education as it would impinge upon the statute of secrecy, even though the said parent would keep it a secret. But overall the situation was happy and I was sent along with Minerva to buy my school supplies, my mother even gave me a rolled up 50 pound note when she thought Minerva was not looking, well it is the thought that counts and I happily accepted it and added it to my emergency funds which I had squirrelled away.

Back to the present.

I was brought back from my thoughts by the loud chattering of the group that was travelling with me, Minerva was at the head of the group followed by the children who moved in a loose groups, followed by their parents who were talking among themselves, besides Granger I recognized a few like Finch-Fletchley who was kind of bragging about him being invited to study at Eton, a quiet Dean Thomas, I didn't want to mingle so I tried to remain incognito by travelling further from the group while Hermione Granger was peppering Minerva with different questions, she was not like the actress but was okay i guess, but definitely not my cup of tea.

I turned my attention towards the different stores and their wares, it was mesmerizing to watch as all the fictional characters were going about their lives like normal. Our first destination was the Gringotts and it was a huge marble building with some misaligned pillars just like the movies, the goblins were odd creatures but were very fast and wholly focused on their work not giving the time of the day for the wizards.

The parents went to join the queue for a teller while Minerva took me to retrieve my funds from the Hogwarts scholarship vault deep inside the cavern.

The roller coaster ride was very exhilarating and wonderful, I might have screamed a little bit, after about 5 minutes the cart came to halt and I got out first, I was feeling dizzy and my hair was windblown while Minerva and the goblin were perfectly fine, must be some spell hmmm....

I was not allowed to enter the vault and had to wait outside, Minerva was efficient as ever and came out at record time with a small purse. While we rode above Minerva explained to me about the funds and the magical denomination, the first year scholarship was about 25 galleons, 7 for wand, 5 for school uniform and accessories, 8 for potions supplies, cauldron, telescope and a trunk(normal kind not with the fancy runes kind), the remaining 5 galleons were for the books. This money would only allow me to buy second-hand stuff, except for my wand, well I didn't mind, the muggle money I had would amount to about another 20 galleons but I didn't plan on converting them today in the presence of Minerva.

Later we joined the other parents and children, Minerva gave direction to the Madam Malkins and Flourish and Blotts, to purchase the standard stuff while she shepherded us children to buy our first wands. She gave my share of money to one of the parents to get me an extra set of clothes (second-hand clothes were scourgified and charmed to fit) and potion materials and promised to take me to a second-hand book shop separately.

I was beyond excited to get my wand as we made our way towards Olivander's. Like the books and the movies, the shop was small and we had to cram ourselves to fit us all of inside, it was not a pleasant experience.

As I was the straggler I had to get my wand last. The ones that received their wands were excitedly chatting and went outside to give the rest of us room.

Olivander observed everyone with keen eyes and used the measurements to furnish our wands, each of the students except Granger and me took 2 or 3 tries to get their wands. Granger got her vine wand just like canon and finally, I was left alone with Minerva and old boy Ollie.

I felt a warm feeling when I held an ebony wand, sparks flew out of the tip and confirmed my status as its master. It turns out that my wand had Dragon heartstring as its core and was 11 and 1/2 inches long, it was reasonably supple, it was like Bellatrix's wand(except for the length) and it raised my hope of becoming a powerful wizard. Just as was about to pay for the wand, out of nowhere Olivander warned me not to stray from the path of light in a subtle unsettling way. It was creepy as hell, as I had voided all thoughts since I entered this place, it must have been a standard warning I guess, as he went back to polishing unsold wands thereafter without giving me a second look as if nothing had happened. Minerva also didn't give any further thought about the comment as she took to buy my books.

I opted to buy only the standard books, unlike Granger's who were each carrying a dozen books. Well, she really did like to read I guessed and I went home to plot my rise to power.